These are the 8 best affordable smartphones you can buy

The Apple iPhone SE. Business Insider/Steve Kovach The days of needing to pay big dollars to get a good smartphone are dead and buried.

The smartphone has become a commodity, and as such the costs of manufacturing something decent has gone down. For you, that means great phones are now common around $400, and good phones are available for much less than that.

Still, as always, some devices are still better than others. So, after testing a whole lot of phones this year, we've broken down the affordable side of the market, and rounded up the handsets worth buying.

1/

The best $100 phone: Blu R1 HD

Business Insider/Jeff Dunn

The Blu R1 HD is the Amazon Fire of smartphones: Nothing about it is great, but it's way, way better than it has any right being. It goes for as low as $100 unlocked on its own, but that can go down to just $50 if you're an Amazon Prime member. It's a good bargain either way, but if you get the model that's $10 more, you get a perfectly competent performer that doesn't feel cheap and has a nicely bright, 5-inch, 720p display.

The catch with that "Prime exclusive" deal is you have to deal with a torrent of Amazon-sponsored bloatware and lock screen ads. Yes, lock screen ads — as in, your phone becomes a pocket billboard every time you turn it on. You might find this dystopian, or you might learn to live with it. Maybe you'll do both. Whatever the case, until we're able to try a new Moto E, this is the only phone worth considering for under $100.

The best $200 phone: Lenovo Moto G4

Lenovo

Let's be clear: This year's Moto G has its issues. It's big, it's not water-resistant anymore, and the Snapdragon 617 chip at its core isn't terribly smooth. It doesn't feel like an outright steal the way its predecessors have, and "Motorola, The Lenovo Years" hasn't improved on anything the company did when it was owned by Google.

Still, the Moto G formula is hard to screw up. For $200 (or $150 with the Prime offer noted above), you get a great 1080p panel, a nice build, enough battery life, and a respectable camera. The totally clean take on Android, meanwhile, is excellent at any price. (As is the microSD slot.) It runs quickly enough for casual use, too — just don't expect it to punch far above its price tag this time out.

Also worth considering: Huawei Honor 5X

Huawei

The Moto G4's biggest competition in $200 range is the Huawei Honor 5X. Its 5.5-inch display, battery life, and camera are all good for the money just like the Moto, but its aluminum body feels more luxurious and it has an excellent fingerprint scanner. (The one on the $250 Moto G4 Plus, meanwhile, is so awkwardly placed that it's not even worth considering here.)

There are three main issues. One, again, it performs fine — especially after its latest software update — but it's not great. Two, that display lacks an oleophobic coating, meaning it picks up finger grease and smudges like mad. Three, and most importantly, Huawei's EMUI skin is a thick iOS knockoff, the exact opposite of the G4's cleanliness. If you really dig the Honor's design, though, you might be fine installing a launcher and calling it a day.

The best $300 phone: LG Nexus 5X

Business Insider/Antonio Villas-Boas

If you can push closer to $300, the Nexus 5X is marked step above the Moto G4 and Honor 5X. The 5.2-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 808 chip, and 12.3-megapixel camera are all much closer to "midrange" than "budget." A speedy fingerprint reader and fast charging support help, too. Plus, since this is one of Google's Nexus devices, you don't have to worry about muddled software or late updates.

There are a few caveats, though. The Nexus 5X is nearly a year old at this point, and Google is likely to roll out an updated model in the next couple of months. There's no microSD slot, either, so you'll want to buy its 32GB model. And you should only buy that model if you can find it in the $260-300 range, where it hovers now. At its original $350, you're much better off paying for our $400 pick below.

5/

The best $400 phone: OnePlus 3

Business Insider/Antonio Villas-Boas

If you can only buy one phone on this list, buy the OnePlus 3. Simply put, it has no significant weaknesses. It did have a problem with its display's color accuracy when its first launched, but a timely software update has largely put that to rest.

Beyond that, this phone could easily cost $600: The smooth metal design looks and feels great, the Snapdragon 820 chip and 6GB of RAM just fly, the software is clean, and the 16-megapixel camera is excellent. The 1080p panel isn't as sharp as those on other flagships, but it's more than fine if you stay out of VR. And while there's no microSD slot, the 64GB of storage is plentiful. If you can't afford a decked-out flagship like the Samsung Galaxy S7, the OnePlus is arguably your best Android alternative.

Also worth considering: ZTE Axon 7

Business Insider/Antonio Villas-Boas

ZTE's Axon 7 is another flagship-level phone masquerading at a mid-tier price. It's a pinch slower than the OnePlus 3, but the difference is small, and its 5.5-inch 2560x1440 display looks superb. The camera and battery life are strong as well.

The big separation from the OnePlus is in its design — the Axon 7 has heft, which some might not like, but gives the device a more expensive feel. It's exceptionally slim for a handset with a screen this big, and its dual speakers are powerful.

You could have a few quibbles about ZTE's largely unnecessary software touches, but it really comes down to your preferences with hardware. Whichever way you go, there's good value.

7/

Also worth considering: Apple iPhone SE

Business Insider/Steve Kovach

The $400 iPhone SE is my personal favorite on this list. It didn't have to do much to get there: It is a tremendous, genuinely compact phone, and almost nobody makes those anymore. After years of fumbling with phablets on the train, I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to go back to a 4-inch device you can actually use with one hand or stash in a shirt pocket.

The key is that nothing important is compromised. Outside of a couple minor omissions, this is just an iPhone 6s in the body of an iPhone 5s. It's still strong, the camera's still awesome, the display's still accurate, and iOS is still simple enough. Because it's pushing less pixels, its battery is even better, easily capable of lasting more than a day. Yes, the small size isn't for everyone, but what's there is sturdily put together.

The only problem is storage: To hit that budget price, you have to put up with 16GB of non-expandable space. This is dumb. If you can conserve, though, it's a steal.

Also worth considering: Alcatel Idol 4s

Business Insider/Jeff Dunn

There isn't one thing the $400 Alcatel Idol 4s does better than the OnePlus 3, but it doesn't get much wrong either. It's a bit slower, but fine, with a good display and a thin and light design. The hook is that it's unique — it comes with a (very basic) VR headset, has a side key you can customize to launch various apps, and can reorient its display when it's held upside down.

Is that enough to overcome its lesser specs? For most people, no. But if you're smitten with VR, or just like the look of it, you aren't totally doing it wrong by picking one up. It's just a little more mid-range than everything else in this tier.